WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 78
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-Breaking) Blackflame's ether detected in eastern Light City... S-rank heroes dispatched urgently.
-The source of Blackflame's ether waves is reportedly Officer Kang Jin-ho's home...
-Isn't Blackflame a teleportation-type ability user?
-Kang Jin-ho's fucked... What do we do...
-Police and heroes have confirmed that Officer Kang Jin-ho is unharmed... Blackflame's whereabouts remain unknown.
-Hero Association President: There are no signs of brainwashing or mental-type abilities. It appears Blackflame truly withdrew.
-Exclusive) “We only talked. Blackflame left of his own accord.” Explanations from Kang Jin-ho's side continue...
-That's even scarier.
-The article says they only had tea at his house? Did he put something in the tea?
-You can make a 1-rank villain back down just by talking? Isn't Kang Jin-ho an information-type?
-Is Kang Jin-ho really an information-type? Every villain who's faced him has ended up ruined. Isn't he a mental-type?
A week after Blackflame vanished, Light City was thrown into turmoil once again.
Kang Jin-ho had always drawn attention, but this time was different in scale. Lethe had brought surprise, and Body Snatcher had brought shock. This time... it was closer to incomprehension.
-Isn't he really a mental-type?
-An ability that breaks someone's mind when you talk to them?
-I heard he's still in a pre-awakening state...
-What the hell happens when he fully awakens? LOL
-Seriously, don't talk to Kang Jin-ho. You never know what might happen.
That last comment became something of a meme. “Don't talk to Kang Jin-ho.” In a city centered around heroes, it spread everywhere in an instant, and as a result...
“...What is this?”
When Kang Jin-ho arrived at the precinct, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
Eastern Light City's 7th Precinct was usually crowded. There were villains who wanted Kang Jin-ho to arrest them, reporters looking for a story, and ordinary people who just wanted to see his face.
“...”
Now, there was hardly anyone there. Not none, exactly, but noticeably fewer. A complainant talking in the corner hurriedly looked away when their eyes met Kang Jin-ho's, while someone else pretended to be absorbed in their phone.
“Um, Sergeant Kim. What's going on? Why is everyone avoiding me?”
“Uh... well...”
Sergeant Kim stopped working through paperwork and let out an awkward sigh.
“There's been talk that if people speak to you, their minds collapse or something.”
“...What?”
“I don't believe it! But that's what the complainants believe.”
“...”
Kang Jin-ho rubbed his temples as a headache began to throb.
Now that he thought about it, the villains who used to line up outside the precinct had vanished too. Even being arrested by Kang Jin-ho must have scared them now. They wanted wealth and fame, not to have their minds broken and become idiots.
Could public opinion really change overnight? One or two times could be a coincidence, but something similar had already happened three times. There was no idiot in this city who would still call that a coincidence.
“Senior! You're here!”
If there was one person who had not changed, it was Jeong Do-man. No... if anything, Jeong Do-man seemed to have gotten worse.
“About this incident. Did you really only talk to him?”
“Uh... yeah? I didn't do anything else.”
“As expected...! Breaking an enemy without violence, through words alone. Possessing strength, yet using it solely as a deterrent! This is the path the police of the future must follow!”
Jeong Do-man kept nodding as he eagerly wrote something in his notebook. Kang Jin-ho noticed that the notebook now had “Volume 4” written on it, but figured there was no point in mentioning it.
How had things ended up like this? It had been the only option if he wanted to drive off Blackflame without Eun-yeong's help... but he had never expected such a bizarre misunderstanding. An ability that could break an enemy's mind through words alone?
Kang Jin-ho himself knew he had gone too far. He knew he had spread information he should not have shared because he did not want to ruin his relationship with Eun-yeong.
But no one had caught on to the dimensional-travel part, and instead they thought he had some demonic ability? He had never expected a situation like this... As Kang Jin-ho bitterly let out sigh after sigh, the precinct door opened.
“I'm back~”
Eun-yeong returned from training with a bright smile.
After being away for several days on assignment, she was the same as always. The bag in her hand held a few souvenirs she said she had received from the regional police agency.
“Ah... you're back?”
“Yeah. Nothing happened, right?”
“...No, not really.”
“Really? Then that's fine.”
And as though nothing had happened at all, Eun-yeong sat at her desk and began tidying it.
“...”
How could Eun-yeong not know Blackflame had come to abduct Kang Jin-ho? How could she not know Blackflame had disappeared after talking with him?
“Oh, here. They say it's a local specialty. Jin-ho, you can have it.”
“...Thank you.”
Yet Eun-yeong really did sit there and work as though nothing had happened.
“I see.”
Kang Jin-ho understood. This was a signal from Eun-yeong.
A signal that she would not ask. A signal that she would not bring it up unless he did first. Still, judging by the smile in her eyes, that signal clearly came with one condition.
'She wants me to tell her myself... someday.'
Eun-yeong had always been like that. She only observed Kang Jin-ho and never forced him to act. She made her own guesses, then nodded happily only after Kang Jin-ho explained what he had done and how.
'...Right.'
It was not time to tell her yet. He had told Blackflame that he came from another world only because he had no choice. But Eun-yeong... he did not want to tell her yet.
After work, with those complicated thoughts still on his mind, Eun-yeong naturally joined Kang Jin-ho on his way home.
“What is it?”
“...Nothing.”
Though there was no longer any reason for them to leave work together now that Blackflame was gone, Eun-yeong put on an apron and began cooking as naturally as though she knew nothing.
“By the way, Jin-ho.”
“Yes.”
“We need to replace the wallpaper.”
“...Yes.”
Kang Jin-ho glanced at the scorched wallpaper behind them.
He decided to stay quiet a little longer. Just a little longer.
* * *
Somewhere in Light City, inside a white room.
“...”
Director Baek turned the pages of the ledger on his desk, one by one.
Director Baek accepted requests from villains and made plans on their behalf. He had earned his current reputation by creating near-perfect plans that made the most of each villain's abilities.
“...”
But now, requests had decreased. Decreased enough to make the difference unmistakable.
Compared to this time last year, they had shrunk to a quarter. Even the requests that did come in were minor.
The reason was simple. Kang Jin-ho.
The plans Director Baek had personally designed had crumbled at Kang Jin-ho's hands. Marionette had been arrested, Lethe had become an idiot, and Body Snatcher had become a wreck. Now Blackflame had disappeared from Light City altogether.
“They must find Kang Jin-ho more frightening than me.”
Rumors were spreading among villains. Were even Director Baek's plans meaningless in front of Kang Jin-ho?
That was not all. As far as Director Baek could tell, Light City's overall crime rate was falling.
That, too, was because of Kang Jin-ho. Why had villains been able to run rampant in this city?
Because successfully committing a crime could bring in a fortune, and if they used their abilities well, they could avoid being caught.
But then Kang Jin-ho appeared. A superhuman with a 100 percent arrest rate who had solved every case assigned to him. On top of that, people said merely encountering him could break their minds, so villains were hesitating one after another.
“To think one person's power could accomplish this much.”
Director Baek tapped the desk with his fingertips.
Before ability users existed, the police did more than catch criminals... their greater role was deterrence. Criminals could not openly roam around because the police existed in the first place. In that sense, Kang Jin-ho was more like a police officer than anyone.
What should he do? What course of action would benefit him most? Director Baek considered it again and again, his thoughts moving dozens of times faster than those of others. Then, at some point, he opened his eyes and stood.
“Hmm.”
Director Baek sensed it. This was a turning point. A turning point just before Light City fell completely into the hands of the good.
If he did not act now, villains in Light City would gradually dwindle until none remained. The city would become clean and beautiful.
Director Baek had no interest in good or evil. He simply wanted this world to have more chaos. Chaos meant work for Director Baek, and work allowed him to prove that “perfect plans” existed.
“Dolsoe, let's get ready.”
Director Baek had made up his mind.
“Either Kang Jin-ho dies, or I do. We need to settle this.”
He had decided to face Kang Jin-ho properly.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading.
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